This is me, the writer, telling stories about family, travel, quirky moments in life and refecting on the world and its absurdities.

Saturday, 6 March 2010

Magpie Tales A Reflection

The Magpie Tales series continues. Each week an image is offered as a jumping off point for writers of fiction, poetry, fantasy, commentary, crime. You name the possible destination, it takes the 40 odd writers there each week. It all emanates from Willow of Willow Manor. Her site is worth a visit and her subsite Magpie Tales is the engine behind these stories.

For me this exercise has brought me into the midst of an instant community of writers (none of whom I have or probably ever will meet); it has become a discipline and a challenge to keep thinking about writing; and it has brought many potential readers to my writing. (A writer needs an audience). This group is not only audience but also offers support, critique (gentle thankfully) and a sense of magic - the affirmation of life via a network of strangers all seeking to put their creative contributions front and centre.

So this is the next image. As usual I am flummoxed.

The last image, the 1KG weight had me stumped. I get stuck on the concrete image and have to wait and wait until the deadline forces me beyond the obvious and into another mode. Last week it was my days as a teacher which emerged; the week before the Victorian bushfires. This week. Oh gawd here we go again.

I'm sure every contributor is having the same experience. last week the 1KG was everything from a doorstop in a house of ghostly memories, a talisman in a fantasy, a story with a pun on Weighting for Godot etc etc.......... and it was also the trigger for a beautiful poem about the soul which was offered by Willow who herself is the high priestess of this writer's site. Here it is:

6 comments:

Would you consider including an autobiographical fiction writer among your followers? I'm new to your blog, a fellow Australian and deeply interested in storytelling of the mixed fiction-non-fiction variety.

Welcome aboard Elizabeth. I'm working to build a network of fellow writers which is slow going when i don't make time to write and blog as much as I need to to achieve this. So I would love to link to anyone interested in reading or writing and particularly autobiographical writing. If you trawl through my stories you'll find them all based on first hand experoiences and then shaped a bit and finally embellished with imagination - bring things together which didn't actually happen on the same day etc.I've just had a quick look at your blog and i see the affinity.

All of the images have had me similarly stumped, and like you, had to let the "deadline" force some real thought around them. I'm not a fiction writer, and the process of allowing fictional stories come out of the images has been remarkable. Not because I produced anything close to my best writing, but because of the support and affirmation you describe by this wonderful network of folks. Who could ask for more?

About Me

It's about stories. I'm exploring my Italian heritage and reflecting on life. And lots of photography.
All material on this site is the original work and property of Steve Capelin and may not be reproduced in any form without permission.